India : Hayana power utilities to introduce PoS machines

CHANDIGARH: Haryana’s power distribution utilities Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam are set to introduce point of sale (PoS) swipe machines at all bill collections centres from next month.

“Point of sale card swipe machines at all power bill collection points will be provided by next month to promote cashless mode of bill payments,” Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam’s managing director Shatrujeet Kapur told ET. He said the effort is to provide card swipe machines in urban as well as rural bill collection centres.

According to Kapur, power utilities in Haryana permit RTGS and cheque payments for bills of over Rs 15,000 — a facility that most industrial and commercial consumers are already using.

The state government has decided to promote cashless transactions through the electronic media, such as debit and credit cards, especially RuPay card, to enable ease of doing business in the state.

Haryana finance minister Capt. Abhimanyu said the State Bank of IndiaBSE 0.38 % (SBI) has agreed to provide the PoS machines free of charge to the state government and its departments across the state. Transactions settled through PoS terminals will be credited by SBI to the respective department's drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) bank accounts on T+ I basis (T denotes transaction day).